there's a thread going about offset ( raked ) steering head bearings on a Sporster on the HDRCGB forum at present.

I'd feel these are fundamentally unsound because;

(a) there is no practical value to fitting extended forks to a Sporty anyway(b) having your steering geometry dependent on something pushed into the steering head is counter to the usually accepted principle that the frame's main purpose is to provide a fixed relationship between the wheels, and jig construction provides the best control of this at construction stage(c) there's a comment about 'the misalignment being distributed over 180 degree' which frankly, I can't make any sense of

thoughts, anyone?

Shoot, a man could have a good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff...

I appreciate the thought, but using facts and physics to argue with posers is banging your head against the wall. "How well it works" isn't even on the same page as "how kewl it looks, dude".Let's remember the dominant influence here: Willy G. over-rode the engineering dep't. and 125 years of chassis research, and chose the fork angle of the biggest product development outlay in 20 years based on styling.

panic wrote:I appreciate the thought, but using facts and physics to argue with posers is banging your head against the wall. "How well it works" isn't even on the same page as "how kewl it looks, dude".Let's remember the dominant influence here: Willy G. over-rode the engineering dep't. and 125 years of chassis research, and chose the fork angle of the biggest product development outlay in 20 years based on styling.

panic,

I hate to sound like a neophyte, but can you please explain specifically what you’re alluding to in the highlighted text above?

45 Brit, The Superglide cups are the same as Electra-Glide, The stem was changed to big-twin specs. Still dirt cheap. I vote for the V-Rod as the biggest POS. I was excited about the new engine until I saw what it was housed in.Robbie

panic wrote:Posing isn't a school - it's the conceit that you have better taste than your customers, and they should pay you to impose it upon them.

All "new" or "improved" products are created by people that believe that they have better ways of designing or producing a given product ... In many of those cases the underlying theme HAS to be that you have "better taste than your customers" or at least your competitors ... Whether I would call that "conceit" or not is a very different question. NOBODY forces a customer to accept their "taste" ... that always remains at the discretion of the customer. Willie has been very, very successful at marketing his taste, whether you like it or not ... On the other hand, the aftermarket proves that not everybody agrees, as does the continued presence of a lot of other motorcycle companies.

Then the sales teams try to disguise "defects" as "better engineering", like 5 or 6 speed gearbox versus old 3 or 4, modern Zamac type diecast crankcases versus old sand cast ones etc... Only posers can swallow such bitter pills for the sake of fashion...

amklyde wrote:Obviously none of you characters have ever spent any time on a V-Rod. I have never met anyone that actually put some miles on one, that didn't come to enjoy and respect the ride, including myself.

I was going to say something to that effect but chose not to based on bias towards the bike, but since you said something amklyde I will.

It's a good riding bike.....it's f--king fast and I personally would love to own a factory hot rod.

If the design is so screwed up and Willie G threw out decades of factory engineering.....well.....he did it right. The one I road handled great at low speeds putting through town, and at 130 mph I wasn't afraid one bit. So if the geometry is messed up....it works anyway.

Hell....they're running high 10's low 11's out of the crate. The Destroyer is over 165 hp......

Let's see a hot rodded knuckle with no suspension mods do that.......all day.